i started a slightly modified game on hard difficulty. i made coastal and normal fortress cheaper to build and modified the starting troops - averaged the xp and made them non reserve (well istn that important - i use a big bunch of infantry as garrison of western europe - i lowered the starting xp for the 3 tank divisions (55-80 xp is insane and without reason)
i sold as much energy aas possible - important to start early as long the customers have money - and bought enough metal and raw to keep me stable at min of 30k-15k. i didnt bothered for oil anymore as i did in early games because it has so few impact and costs a lot of money. if necessary i sold supply to keep my necessary raw flow flowing.
till 39 i build up my army and interceptors. my aim was usually 12 interceptors - i used 6 x 2 at the beginning but had to form 3 wing vs the british air force. the 20 % combat penalty is really the point in fights int vs int if the brits. and i build up armies - my aim was 3 line armies on western front and 2 line armies on poland border + my 2 attack armies. i didnt got 1 of the poland line armies finished to build and here and there some divisions had been missing.
my linne army has usually 3 infantry corps with 5,5 inf divisions (have always troops attached to hq unit) and i tank corps with 2,5 tank divisions. the attack armies had 2 tank corps with 4,5 tank divisions and 2 inf corps with 4,5 inf divisions.
a line inf corps : hq+inf+aa+art / 4x (3 inf + art) 1 x (3 inf + at) - at beginning of barbarossa all eastern front inf div had 3inf+at+art
line tank corps : hq+mob inf + tank + at tank / 1 x (2 tank + mob inf + spaa) / 1 x (tank + 2 mob inf + spart) later upgraded the hq tank regiment to heavy tank)
attack inf corps : hq+tank+mob inf+ spaa / 3 x (3 inf + art) 1 x (3 inf + at) - again hq tank later upgraded to heavy
attack tank corps: hq+tank+mob inf + ac / 1 x ( light tank + 2 mob inf + ac ) / 1 x ( tank + 2 mob inf + spart) 1 x ( 2 tank + mob inf + spaa ) 1 x (2 tank + mob inf + eng )
one of the tank corps was a ss tank corps : hq + tank + wss + ac / 3 x ( tank + 2 wss + eng ) / 1 x ( 2 tank + wss + spaa )
that was planning but the tank corps had a great variety. i build too many spaa and wont use them in the future.
additionally i had a marine corps with : hq+tank+inf+ aa / 4 x ( 3 mar + eng)
and 4 airborne div with 3 airborne inf ea
i followed quite the historical order beside i didnt support nat spain in civil war and started in may 39 vs poland. after poland i battled western europe (belgium and netherland joind allies before my attack armies arrived on western border). i didnt made vichy france and just occupied all france - all colonies remained under france control.
after france i made swiss a puppet and attacked rep spain with 1 army and made them a puppet (which was a mistake because somehow they lost nearly all their ground troops after they had been a puppet - and ofc i took gibraltar.
the other attack army moved to yugoslavia and conquered it. after that point ( was feb 40) i invited italy to war (japan i already invited 5 / 39 ). i raced with italy about greek and we conquered it. denmark was invaded by 1 inf corps and the marine corps in the spring 40 -
during 40 in made bulgaria - hungary- romania and turkey puppets ( in that order) - after that i started to move into positions for barbarossa and build the missing armies
my main concern was the romanian border to get another line army there and to get a 3rd attack army - my wish to get a 4th line army couldnt be achieved.
i garrisoned france and benelux with 3 line armies and 4x3 int wings - spain and gibraltar got 2 inf corps and the swiss army - yugoslavia and greek 2 inf corps - denmark 1 inf corps.
i only had 1 inf corps for the german coast line and cities - which was not enough and the british made several attempts to invade around hamburg or hamburg itself.
during 1940 i was afraid the game could be too boring. italy conquered northern africa till iraq border. the i had a look at the soviet german treaty counter - it said (22%) of the number of brigades at the border - i took a closer look and i had seen about 200 russian divisions maybe more - each area was filled with 5+ divisions - from finland all way down to romania.
i had to wait till may 1st 1941 to attack russia - to get the 5th brigade to inf divisions.
sadly i had no spare troops to garrison finland and the had been defeated after 3 months of barbarossa.
now its sep 41 - i destroyed about 100 -120 russian divisions in 4 circles (2 at the baltic , 1 large at the hungarian border and 1 at odessa). my front is from riga-smolensk-kiev to sevastopol. another 40 divisions are encircled in the swamps south of minsk but it will be some work to defeat them. especially my frontline in the smolensk area is frightening thin. i will have to see if i will be able to get leningrad at end of 41.
i alredy have minor supply difficulties - the polish partisans are a bigger problem than i had in pre tfh games.
that game is great fun and a huge challenge
-----
before beginning of war i moved my 4 submarines to italian harbours and my fleet to eastern sea - i lost no subs so far but several times they got heavy damage - my battle fleet didnt left harbour till invasion of denmark and the only real battles had been vs the russian fleet. my subs seem to be too old now - maybe the are able to sink 1 convoy till they have to return to regain organisation.
japan was quite succesful in pacific - they conquered most of indonesia - vietnam - made a landing at australia but stayed at a bridgehead around sydney for over 1 year. the brits had been able to invade taiwan. at the jap - russian front they made a minor progress.
amerika didnt joined war so far but stopped trade with axis at start of the war.
--
with spys i made austria join in may 37 and stole several marine techs from the brits and french
-
my tech is widespread and usually not ahead of time (beside inf, cheap industry techs (max 2 difficulty). i miss ship techs and naval tactics but others are most up to date
its great fun - will i be able to conquer russia and defend western europe?
i sold as much energy aas possible - important to start early as long the customers have money - and bought enough metal and raw to keep me stable at min of 30k-15k. i didnt bothered for oil anymore as i did in early games because it has so few impact and costs a lot of money. if necessary i sold supply to keep my necessary raw flow flowing.
till 39 i build up my army and interceptors. my aim was usually 12 interceptors - i used 6 x 2 at the beginning but had to form 3 wing vs the british air force. the 20 % combat penalty is really the point in fights int vs int if the brits. and i build up armies - my aim was 3 line armies on western front and 2 line armies on poland border + my 2 attack armies. i didnt got 1 of the poland line armies finished to build and here and there some divisions had been missing.
my linne army has usually 3 infantry corps with 5,5 inf divisions (have always troops attached to hq unit) and i tank corps with 2,5 tank divisions. the attack armies had 2 tank corps with 4,5 tank divisions and 2 inf corps with 4,5 inf divisions.
a line inf corps : hq+inf+aa+art / 4x (3 inf + art) 1 x (3 inf + at) - at beginning of barbarossa all eastern front inf div had 3inf+at+art
line tank corps : hq+mob inf + tank + at tank / 1 x (2 tank + mob inf + spaa) / 1 x (tank + 2 mob inf + spart) later upgraded the hq tank regiment to heavy tank)
attack inf corps : hq+tank+mob inf+ spaa / 3 x (3 inf + art) 1 x (3 inf + at) - again hq tank later upgraded to heavy
attack tank corps: hq+tank+mob inf + ac / 1 x ( light tank + 2 mob inf + ac ) / 1 x ( tank + 2 mob inf + spart) 1 x ( 2 tank + mob inf + spaa ) 1 x (2 tank + mob inf + eng )
one of the tank corps was a ss tank corps : hq + tank + wss + ac / 3 x ( tank + 2 wss + eng ) / 1 x ( 2 tank + wss + spaa )
that was planning but the tank corps had a great variety. i build too many spaa and wont use them in the future.
additionally i had a marine corps with : hq+tank+inf+ aa / 4 x ( 3 mar + eng)
and 4 airborne div with 3 airborne inf ea
i followed quite the historical order beside i didnt support nat spain in civil war and started in may 39 vs poland. after poland i battled western europe (belgium and netherland joind allies before my attack armies arrived on western border). i didnt made vichy france and just occupied all france - all colonies remained under france control.
after france i made swiss a puppet and attacked rep spain with 1 army and made them a puppet (which was a mistake because somehow they lost nearly all their ground troops after they had been a puppet - and ofc i took gibraltar.
the other attack army moved to yugoslavia and conquered it. after that point ( was feb 40) i invited italy to war (japan i already invited 5 / 39 ). i raced with italy about greek and we conquered it. denmark was invaded by 1 inf corps and the marine corps in the spring 40 -
during 40 in made bulgaria - hungary- romania and turkey puppets ( in that order) - after that i started to move into positions for barbarossa and build the missing armies
my main concern was the romanian border to get another line army there and to get a 3rd attack army - my wish to get a 4th line army couldnt be achieved.
i garrisoned france and benelux with 3 line armies and 4x3 int wings - spain and gibraltar got 2 inf corps and the swiss army - yugoslavia and greek 2 inf corps - denmark 1 inf corps.
i only had 1 inf corps for the german coast line and cities - which was not enough and the british made several attempts to invade around hamburg or hamburg itself.
during 1940 i was afraid the game could be too boring. italy conquered northern africa till iraq border. the i had a look at the soviet german treaty counter - it said (22%) of the number of brigades at the border - i took a closer look and i had seen about 200 russian divisions maybe more - each area was filled with 5+ divisions - from finland all way down to romania.
i had to wait till may 1st 1941 to attack russia - to get the 5th brigade to inf divisions.
sadly i had no spare troops to garrison finland and the had been defeated after 3 months of barbarossa.
now its sep 41 - i destroyed about 100 -120 russian divisions in 4 circles (2 at the baltic , 1 large at the hungarian border and 1 at odessa). my front is from riga-smolensk-kiev to sevastopol. another 40 divisions are encircled in the swamps south of minsk but it will be some work to defeat them. especially my frontline in the smolensk area is frightening thin. i will have to see if i will be able to get leningrad at end of 41.
i alredy have minor supply difficulties - the polish partisans are a bigger problem than i had in pre tfh games.
that game is great fun and a huge challenge
-----
before beginning of war i moved my 4 submarines to italian harbours and my fleet to eastern sea - i lost no subs so far but several times they got heavy damage - my battle fleet didnt left harbour till invasion of denmark and the only real battles had been vs the russian fleet. my subs seem to be too old now - maybe the are able to sink 1 convoy till they have to return to regain organisation.
japan was quite succesful in pacific - they conquered most of indonesia - vietnam - made a landing at australia but stayed at a bridgehead around sydney for over 1 year. the brits had been able to invade taiwan. at the jap - russian front they made a minor progress.
amerika didnt joined war so far but stopped trade with axis at start of the war.
--
with spys i made austria join in may 37 and stole several marine techs from the brits and french
-
my tech is widespread and usually not ahead of time (beside inf, cheap industry techs (max 2 difficulty). i miss ship techs and naval tactics but others are most up to date
its great fun - will i be able to conquer russia and defend western europe?
